


All I want for Christmas

by Imogen_Penn



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gratuitous holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:24:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imogen_Penn/pseuds/Imogen_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Clint are the absolute worst at matchmaking. Thankfully, these things have a way of working themselves out anyways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I want for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays starlightafterastorm. I'm sorry it's so fluffy. You may want to brush your teeth after this.

Darcy was grumbling under her breath as she sat hunched over a stack of data read outs that never seemed to be getting any smaller, no matter how many of them she made her way through.

This was probably because Jane kept plonking down another huge pile every time Darcy made any kind of headway.

It was the 23rd of December, for sweet baby Jesus’s sake. Couldn’t science take a break over the holidays? I mean really, how was Santa going to twist physics to deliver all the presents if Jane insisted on keeping her eye on the laws of nature all the time?

Apparently she needed to re-evaluate what “under her breath” meant in the context of SHIELD laboratories.  Steve Rogers was standing in the doorway of the lab looking distinctly like he was trying to smother a grin.

“Well you’re not Santa,” Darcy shot at him, partially because he had made her lose her place in the readout she was working through and partially because if he had come by about 15 minutes earlier he would have heard her muttering some really embarrassing things about places she would rather be. There had been a distinct trend of locations like Steve Rogers abs, or sometimes his arms. Definitely his ass in the suit.

She willed herself not to be awkward.

“Sadly not, Miss Lewis, but I do come bearing gifts,” he produced a tray with gloriously tall steaming cups of something topped with whipped cream.

“I take it back,” she said, forgetting all about her promise on the subject of awkwardness, “you actually are Santa, all the elves, maybe a few reindeer as well.”

Steve grinned, “so long as I don’t have to wear any pointy shoes with jingle bells.”

“I make no promises,” she said with a grin, hopping up to take the two drinks and placing one in the vicinity of Jane. It was best not to interrupt her when she was like this. The undeniable lure of caffeine and sugar would get to her eventually.

Darcy brought the cup to her lips, heedless of the pile of whipped cream, and took a long, slow sip.

She sighed in pleasure, licking the cream off her lip.

“Oh my _god_ Steve, you are the _best_! How did you know about my peppermint mocha addiction?”

There was a bit of a pause and she blinked at Steve. If she didn’t know any better, she could swear he was staring at her mouth. But that was not a thing that was actually happening, that was just her latent Steve Rogers obsession getting the better of her. Real life Steve Rogers, she didn’t think, had ever gotten within touching distance of her. Especially not since that whole Beth debacle a few months ago that had apparently put him off women forever.

Steve cleared his throat. She probably _had_ been staring. She forced herself look casual, taking another sip of her drink.

“Clint said you two were working late,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets, “I thought you could probably use some caffeine. Plus,” he grinned that little sideways smirk that was all Steve Rogers and nothing to do with the Captain, “Jarvis knows all.”

“Ahh the true meaning of Christmas,” said Darcy with a roll of her eyes, “The A.I. who knows exactly what to get for everyone because he records every moment of our lives.”

“God bless us, every one.” Steve intoned solemnly with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Darcy!” Jane hollered at her from across the room, “do you have the next stack for me yet?”

She sighed and smiled apologetically at Steve. “Duty calls,” she said “But thank you so much for the coffee.”

“Any time,” he smiled at her as she headed back for her table.

“Darcy?” she stopped and turned, Steve was paused in the doorway.

“Hmmm?” she asked over the rim of her cup.

“I didn’t ask Jarvis,” he said a little hesitantly.

“About the coffee?” she asked confused.

“No, I did ask about that. But not about what to get you for Christmas. I didn’t ask. I just wanted…” he trailed off and shrugged.

Darcy smiled, something more than the sugary coffee warming her to her toes.

“Noted, Steve.”

He grinned at her with a little wave as he moved off down the hall.

It never would have occurred to her for a moment that Steve would have asked Jarvis what to get her, because Steve was unbearably genuine that way. He was appalled that people often gave gift cards these days. Of course, it had never occurred to her that Steve was going to get her a present at all. It probably should have. They were both going to be at Tony’s for the holidays. And now she was going to have to get something for him. Something that didn’t reveal exactly how embarrassingly head over heels she was for him. She couldn’t really just wrap herself up in ribbons and show up at his door could she?

Darcy groaned and let her head fall to the table. This was not going to go well.

+

+

“So Steven,” Tony leaned a hip against the back of the chair Steve was in, trying to read. It was foolish of him to think he could, really, in Tony’s living room.

“Hi Tony,” he marked his page and put the book down.

“What have you decided to give the delectable Ms. Lewis for Christmas?” he looked far too innocent. Steve knew that look quite well by now. He had been on the receiving end of it for quite some time.

“Something platonic Tony,” he said with a sigh, “because she is my _friend_.”

“Only because you’re too repressed to make a move,” came Clint’s voice from the kitchen. “Also, anyone else for egg nog?”

Steve closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the chair. He loved these people. They were his team. His _family_. But goddamit did they not know when to leave things alone.

“Look, she’s not interested, can you all just please drop it? She and Jane will be over any time now and I won’t have you making her uncomfortable.” He tried his very best Captain voice, but they were mostly inured to it by now.

“Where are you getting this ‘not interested’ information from?” asked Tony, accepting a glass of eggnog, liberally laced with rum by the smell of it, from Clint as he came in and flopped down on the sofa.

“Have you seen the way she talks to the new agents?” he asked, only _slightly_ sourly, “She doesn’t seem the type who would have difficulty making her interest known.”

Clint snorted, “Oh Captain, you have _no idea_ do you? That’s only because she actually…”

“Clint,” Natasha’s harsh tone cut across the room, quite at odds with her appearance. She was wearing loose black pants and a thin sweater that actually had a little reindeer on it. Still, she was Natasha, so they all shut their mouths with a snap. “What Steve and Darcy do in their free time is none of your business,” she said firmly.

Steve was almost ready to smile gratefully at her until she added, “even if they are woefully misguided.”

Thankfully, their unsettling if well intentioned attempts to make him take action on his one sided crush were put to an end as Jane and Darcy herself arrived.

They came laden with bags and wrapped parcels. Everyone was staying over tonight to have Christmas morning together the next day. It filled Steve with warmth to see the trouble that Tony has gone to for all of them. The whole apartment was decorated for the holiday in a traditional and understated style that probably had far more to do with making everyone comfortable than reflecting Tony’s choice.

If the sideways glances Tony and Clint were giving him as he jumped up to help Darcy with her things were making him a little edgy, well at least it was just him.

As the evening wore on though, the machinations of his teammates quickly became the least of his problems. He had never really been around Darcy when she was drinking. Not that she was drinking much, but it was enough that her cheeks were a bit flushed and her usually affectionate nature was turning into a tendency to drape herself all over anyone who was close.

Anyone, that is, except him.

He even, he would admit to himself, tried to maneuver himself into a place where she would have to sit next to him, but she just perched on the arm of Clint’s chair and started leaning into his shoulder and pulling at his hair.

It didn’t help matters that Clint was raising a challenging eyebrow at him.

He decided he was better to cut his losses before he did something stupid like pull her right out of Clint’s lap and kiss her in front of everyone. He ran a frustrated hand though his hair and stood up abruptly. He hoped he would be able to slip away unnoticed, but Pepper called out to him as he passed in front of the kitchen.

“Ducking out Steve?” she asked, amusement and concern mixed on her face.

“I’m just going to…” he never had to finish his phony excuse, because Darcy walked passed him towards the kitchen, and Jane clapped her hand over her mouth to smother an exclamation of amusement and Clint and Tony looked at each other with positively gleeful expressions.

Steve looked up and felt his shoulders sink.

He and Darcy were standing smack dab under a bunch of mistletoe.

“It’s tradition,” called out Tony, which caused Darcy to look up. She immediately grew tense. Any lingering hopes of her throwing herself into his arms were immediately dashed.

Besides, if he was ever going to get to kiss Darcy, this isn’t how he wanted it to happen. She looked uncomfortable, he _felt_ uncomfortable, and the scheming of their friends was plain to read on all of their faces.

“Tony,” said Steve in a warning tone, “It’s just a decoration.” He took a deliberate step away from her.

To his confusion, this didn’t cause any of the tension in Darcy’s frame to relax. She looked…upset? She was biting on her lower lip.

“Well,” she said a bit thickly, “I think I’m going to just…” and without giving him a second to think of the right thing to say, she took off down the hall to her room.

There was a long silence.

“Boy, you’ve done it now Cap,” said Clint with a low whistle.

“Just stop it,” he said, probably too harshly. “I know you all think you’re trying to help, but you need to just stop it, okay?”

Looking a bit stunned, Clint nodded silently.

Steve turned on his heel and stormed off down the hall. This isn’t exactly how he had imagined this whole scene going, but Darcy had looked upset, and she deserved to know why Clint and Tony were being so….Clint and Tony.

He knocked softly on her door.

“Go away,” came the immediate response from inside.

“Darcy?” he tried carefully.

There was a pause and some rustling and then Darcy opened the door, looking heartbreakingly blurry eyed.

“Steve?” she looked at him cautiously, “What do you want?”

“I just…I owe you an apology, and an explanation I think.”

They stood there just looking at each other for a moment before he tried again. “Can I come in?”

“Oh,” she looked a bit sheepish, “yeah, sorry.” She stepped back to let him enter. He perched carefully on the low chair near the end of the bed in the guest room. She sat on the bed, pulling her knees up against her defensively.

Steve swallowed heavily.

“I’m sorry about Clint and Tony,” he started slowly, “they think they’re helping but…” he trailed off with a shrug.

“They’re Clint and Tony,” she agreed with a wry twist to her lips. “You don’t need to apologise for them. I’m just sorry if it made you uncomfortable or…” she trailed off.

“Wait…” Steve felt very confused, “why are _you_ apologising?”

“Well it’s not like I _asked_ them to meddle or anything, but they can be really perceptive for two giant idiots and I’m sure they thought they were helping, but I know that you don’t….”

“Wait,” Steve held up a hand to stall her rambling. Not that he didn’t find it charming, but he had a growing hopeful feeling that she had actually just said something pretty important. “What exactly were they perceiving?”

She looked at him, low color in her cheeks and a reproachful look on her face.

“Please don’t make me say it, Steve,” she said, just the edge of a tremble in her voice.

“ _Darcy_ ,” he felt like he could barely breathe, “do you mean that they think that you… And you think that I don’t…. but you…” he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what the right words were for this moment.

To hell with it, he was always better at actions.

He leaned forward, caught her face between his palms, paused to pray that he wasn’t wrong about this, and kissed her.

There was a heart stopping second where she was still and stiff, but then all at once it because clear that he was wonderfully and world shakingly _right_. Her hands wrapped around his wrist and her mouth opened under his and she was soft and warm and tasted like nutmeg and he was _never_ going to get enough of this.

It was only a moment, though, before she pulled back with a gasp. “Wait,” she said, but the pressed her lips against his again, “wait,” she tried again, scooting back and dropping his hands.

“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling panic creep up on him, “I shouldn’t have…”

“No,” it was her turn to stop him with a grin, “No, I just…I’m trying to sort this all out in my head, you know?”

He grinned, “I know the feeling.”

“So,” she said carefully, “you…like me?”

He snorted, “It probably passed well beyond something that polite _months_ ago.” And yeah, it wasn’t exactly the most delicate way to put it, but it felt _damn_ good to say it. The way her mouth dropped open in surprise and her eyes lit up was pretty amazing too.

“ _Months_?” she asked in astonishment, “what about….”

He grimaced, “Beth and I were never going to work out anyways,” he said carefully, “but I guess that I wasn’t exactly as subtle as I thought about who I was thinkin’ about.”

Darcy let out a breath, “I would never want to…”

“Wasn’t you,” Steve interrupted quickly.

“But you never said anything…” she went on cautiously.

“I never thought that you’d ever want anything from me,” he said with a little shrug. He was actually still having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that this wasn’t the case.

“ _Why_ ,” she breathed out in a rush, “I mean, everyone _else_ seemed to pick up on it just fine,” she grimaced.

“Well, I mean, I’ve seen you talk to other guys…” he scratched the back of his neck, “You never talked to me that way so I figured…”

“Oh _Steve_ ,” she scooted to the edge of the bed so that her knees pressed against his, “I was never serious about any of those guys.” she looked at him with a slow smile, “so there was no consequences from a bit of flirting, but you…” she moved closer, one of her knees slotting between his in a way that made his mouth go dry. “Well I’m kinda hoping for some consequences.”

He grinned, bright and unhindered, “I gotta tell ya Darcy,” he leaned in to cup a hand around the base of her neck, “you’ve got all the consequences you can handle if you want them.”

She didn’t answer him, she just surged forwards, closing the distance between them as he pulled her into his lap. His hand gripped the soft swell of her hip and her hair fell like silk against his face and Steve couldn’t ever remember feeling so _complete_. She was making a low noise from somewhere deep in her throat as his hand swept up her back to tangle in her hair and he ran his teeth over the swell of her lower lip. He could feel his grip on things like control and propriety slipping away as her hand dipped under the waistband of his pants, pressed warm and solid against the base of his spine, as she only pressed closer to him, as his fingers tightened on her hip.

He pulled away with a slow regret. “We should…” he looked over his shoulder back towards where the others would no doubt be speculating on just exactly what was taking them so long to return to the party.

Darcy grinned, “Yeah. They’re probably one step away from sending out a search party.” She pulled herself off his lap reluctantly, perching on the edge of the bed. “So…I’ll just go ahead…give you a few minutes so they don’t think…” she wasn’t meeting his eyes and Steve’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Won’t think we’ve been necking like teenagers?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, reaching out to rub at her smeared lipstick. “I’m not sure we’ve got much hope on that front.”

“Oh!” she patted ineffectually at her mussed hair, “Sorry, I can just…”

“Darcy,” Steve reached out and grabbed her fluttering hands, feeling like for once he knew exactly what to say to a beautiful woman. It felt pretty good, really. He could barely hold back a silly grin. “You’re gonna be my girl, right?”

He could feel her settle, her smile seeping slow and warm over her lips, “have been for a long time, Cap,” she said.

“Then they might as well know now,” he said, “seeing as they’ve been trying to ‘help’ us along for so long.”

“Actually,” said Darcy with a wicked grin, “that gives me an idea.”

+

+

It was a real effort to leave him behind her as she walked back into the living room; to keep a cool distance as they both settled back into the celebration, to pretend that his attempt to talk to her had gone poorly instead of as spectacularly well as it possibly could have.

She had been Steve’s girl for all of ten minutes and she could already tell that it was going to be a real challenge to keep from touching him, now that she was allowed.

But the increasingly concerned looks that Clint and Tony were exchanging as they registered the chilly behaviour were probably worth a few minutes of restraint. Maybe.

Thankfully, it didn’t take more than fifteen minutes before Natasha ended the standoff by raising an eyebrow at Clint.

“Cap, I’m real sorry,” he finally burst out. “You know me and Tony didn’t mean anything by it. Darce, we’d never…” It was about at that point that Clint registered the corners of Steve’s mouth twitching with a grin he was trying to suppress.

Darcy gave up altogether.

“You little shits,” said Tony emphatically, “how long?”

“’bout 25 minutes at this point,” Darcy chimed in jovially.

“So after all that crap you gave me about the mistletoe…” Tony glared at Steve with folded arms, but Darcy could see that the he was hiding a smile.

“Actually,” said Darcy, moving off of the chair she was curled up in, “About that, Steve. I think you still owe me one. It’s not exactly polite to turn a girl down like that.” It was a new feeling, teasing Steve like this. The way his eyes tracked her as she moved, focused on her like a laser beam, was intoxicating. She could get used to it.

“Ma’am, yes Ma’am,” he intoned in a low voice before jumping up to sweep her over his arm. The kiss was mostly for show, aiming for exactly the low whistles and cat calls that it elicited. But it was still a kiss, and it was still _Steve_ , and Darcy still felt like this whole thing was a bit of a miracle, so she was slow to pull away.

“Thank god that’s settled,” said Natasha with the hint of a grin on her face, “now will you guys leave these poor kids alone?”

“Hey,” said Clint indignantly, “you were the one who planted the mistletoe!”

Darcy would have to remember to thank her later.

As they settled back into the evening, Darcy tucked against Steve’s side on the sofa, his hands curled around hers, she couldn’t really regret their methods.

+

+

In the end, the gifts they had bought for each other didn’t seem to matter as much as they had before. Carefully thought out but scrupulously platonic, they didn’t fit with the way things were now. But for now, pressed close against each other, surrounded by friends, it didn’t matter, there would be many more Christmases to come.

“Merry Christmas, Darce,” Steve whispered against her hair.

“Merry Christmas, Steve,” she whispered back.


End file.
